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For now for one last time we turn our thoughts to the letter of 1st Peter. We have been in a sermon series that we have called anchored Sermon series we've called anchored stabilizing truths for shaky times and This is our final message.
And so if you have your Bibles and I hope you do take them and turn with me to 1st Peter chapter 5. 1st Peter chapter 5 I'm actually gonna read the whole of chapter 5 as we conclude. So 1st Peter and chapter number 5 if you grabbed one of the hardback Bibles in the back there that we give away.
That was page 1078. First Peter chapter 5 verses 1 through 14. This is our custom here. I'll invite you to stand with me out of respect for God's Word as we read it. So first Peter and chapter number 5 reading from first one through to verse 14.
Brothers and sisters. These are God's words. I Exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed Shepherd God's flock among you not overseeing out of compulsion, but willingly as God would have you.
Not out of greed for money, but eagerly. Not lording it over those entrusted to you. But being examples to the flock and When the chief shepherd appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory in The same way you who are younger be subject to the elders.
All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God resists the proud But gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. So that he may exalt you at the proper time costing all your cares on him because he cares.
About you.
Be sober minded. Be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him firm in the faith. Knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world the God of all grace Who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore?
Establish strengthen and support you.
After.
You have suffered a little while To him be dominion forever.
Amen.
Through Sylvanus a fateful brother as I consider him I have written to you briefly in order to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. She who is in Babylon chosen together with you sends you greetings as does mark my son.
Greets one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and grant us understanding as we study it. Allow me to pray ask for the spirits help and we will get to work in this text.
Let's pray together. Well heavily father we thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy to us. We thank you that you in your Wisdom have given us this letter that we've been able to study. You've given us the intelligence that we need to navigate the trials and difficulties of this life.
And so father we ask that as we conclude our study of this letter. This afternoon that your spirit will be with us opening eyes and enlightening hearts. As we pray that for ourselves we pray for heritage Christian fellowship.
Thank you for their relatively new pastor pastor Paul and their associate pastor pastor Jeremy. Pray that he would know your blessing. They would know your strength as a congregation. Pray for them as they are seeking to do some training and development in their congregation that you would bless that effort.
Oh how we need godly men and godly women who can serve you in various areas of your church. Father as we pray for them. We pray also for ourselves now. Asking all these things in Jesus name and for his sake.
Amen. Please be seated. Well, I've tagged this final message and I'll study of first Peter grounded in God's calling grounded in God's calling. As I said faith family, this is the end of our journey through first Peter at least this January may come back to it again in future 13 messages.
I got curious and did some number crunching 180 pages of preparation notes for me. Another 190 pages of sermon notes by the time I was done. I actually counted all of them and Along the way we covered topics like the nature of salvation.
Reality of trials and tribulations in the Christian life. We've talked about the walk of the believer. We've talked about both the as I've called it the witness and the withness the internal relationships of the Church of God.
We've talked about the relationship between the church and the state the roles of man and woman in marriage. What true ministry looks like the reality of Jesus is coming and so many other themes I don't know about you, but for me my own study of this book has unearthed just how rich this little letter is.
And in a lot of ways that's one of the great benefits of what we practice here at Redeemer expository preaching working our way through books of the Bible allowing the Argument and the emphasis of the author to shape our messages.
It means that we cover all kinds of subjects things that we maybe wouldn't want to talk about or would be tempted to skip we deal with them and Even things that we haven't thought about they come up as a result of our exploration in God's Word.
Just by way of introduction as we get started in this final message I thought I'd give you a bit of a personal moment and share with you three lessons that I've learned from Studying first Peter. It would be a terrible thing if I only read this just to prepare sermons and it didn't impact me in any way.
Well three lessons that I've learned as I've studied and preached through first Peter. First of all just as a church member. I've learned that God cares about how the church functions. He cares about its structure.
He cares about its witness. He cares about like I said, it's withness. And I've been convicted more than once that I can't claim Jesus as the supreme love of my life. Without having an all-consuming passion for his church as well.
Secondly just as a Christian. I've learned that while suffering is hard Glory is guaranteed and that ought to give some perspective when we go through trials and Finally just as a pastor. I've walked away.
Well, at least for now anyway from this letter all the more convinced. Now that I wasn't convinced before this but all the more convinced that the greatest need of this church of any church Is as Paul describes in Acts chapter 20 the full counsel of God and that the full counsel of God equips us.
Especially in.
How we prepare for suffering. I don't doubt that at some points this sermon series has sounded repetitive. Now I've talked so much about I think I counted in my manuscripts. I use the word suffering or trial 200 times in this series.
I didn't plan on it. It's just it's kind of the point of this letter. But I came away from that as I was that I didn't know that until Wednesday night Thursday night as I was preparing it's like 200 times gracious.
But then it hit me. Well, hold on. What better way for us to be prepared for suffering than to hear about it every single week and to not hear about it in? A sort of pessimistic. Well with me sense but to allow God's Word to reshape our perspective on the issue and so those are just three lessons I've learned as we've Come to This glorious letter of first Peter and as we're leaving it behind for now, you know, Lord willing I've thought about it.
Like maybe in a few years, we'll come back and revisit it and see if I've learned anything between now and then. But for now as we come to this final part of first Peter Peter still has some stuff to teach us.
He's got some Closing exhortations for us as God's people as you'll recall. Show this one last time we're in first Peter. First Peter has three parts to it. First section deals with the reality of our salvation.
The second section deals with the reality of suffering and we're in that final section which Deals with the return of the Savior. We're dealing with that and the conclusion as well in verses 12 through 14 as Peter wraps up this letter.
He's got some closing exhortations for us some final words designed to give some concluding strength and Encouragement for the people of God. This isn't the last letter Peter will write to this group Lord willing next summer.
We'll do a slightly shorter series in second Peter. So that's the other letter he writes and that one he's nearing the end. But for now Peter is closing out this letter and he gives some words of strength and encouragement for the people of God.
Here's the big idea for this message today. Peter's final Encouragements call us to pursue qualities in keeping with God's calling for us as his people. Peter's final encouragements that we're gonna read here in the end of verse 5 through to the end in verse 14 they call us to pursue some qualities as God's people.
God has called us to a certain. I don't want to say left and that is able to act in Deliverance. I don't need to try and force the situation. I need to learn to trust him. So, okay, we're called to pursue humility.
We're called to do so under God's mighty hand resting in his promise to act. Okay. Okay, that sounds good. How exactly do I do this? Well, that's what verse 7 is there for.
So verse 7.
Casting all your cares on him because he cares about You. For a moment. Let's think about problems and how we deal with problems. How do we typically do with problems. As human beings we see a problem so we fix it.
Something's broken in my house.
Okay.
If you're me if you know how to do you just fix it. If not, you might jump on you know, YouTube or something find a video help to teach you how to do it. And then you fix it. Generally, we don't just sit there and watch problems.
Now if the problem is bigger than us, we may go call a professional but by and large if we can do it ourselves. We tend to try and do it ourselves. But here's the thing brothers and sisters God hasn't called me.
Let's put this way. God hasn't called me or you or any of us to try and fix our own problems. Now that doesn't mean you just sit on your hands and be like, oh, well, there's nothing I could do. That's not what I mean.
What I mean is that in the ultimate sense, there's only so much we can do. But notice that Peter doesn't say Try and make this work. Try and make this happen. No, Peter says you are to take your problems as it were.
Our English translations say cast which is kind of a tame translation. The word here literally means to pick up and throw throw your problems as it were. On the Lord. Because he cares for you. I was hit pretty hard this week when I was thinking about this reality.
I came across this in my study. This is what one commentator tom schreiner says quote. Worry is a form of pride. Because when believers are filled with anxiety, they are convinced that they must solve all their own problems in their lives in their own strength.
The only god they trust in is themselves when believers throw their worries upon god. They express their trust in his mighty hand. Acknowledging that he is lord and sovereign over all of life. Show me a humble person and you'll show and i'll show you somebody.
Who has recognized that the way I deal with my problems is not to deal with my problems. But it's to put them in the hands of god who can deal with my problems. We exercise humility by acknowledging that it's not about me and my ability to fix my situation.
It's about the lord. And about his promise to act and so we stand there with a posture of lord. I'm simply going to trust you. I'm going to trust your ability to act not on my schedule, but on yours. That's the first quality that peter calls us to pursue in this passage.
But there's more not only are we to pursue humility. Secondly, we are called to pursue vigilance vigilance versus eight and nine.
Again.
We might need humility to keep ourselves in check. But we also need vigilance to keep our enemy in check. Have you thought about this that when times of suffering or times of trial come? Oh, well, we lost the screen.
Um.
When times of suffering come or in times of trial come. We have this tendency as human beings to kind of burrow inwards and become incredibly insular. We kind of just lose sight of everything else. All we know is this is what i'm going through right now.
Well peter makes it very clear christian. You don't have that option. That doesn't mean as a christian you won't fall into that option. Let's be clear. But ultimately the christian has to recognize that we don't have that option.
Versus eight and nine be sober-minded peter says. Be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for anyone he can devour. Verse nine resisting firm in the faith. Knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.
Those two commands in verse eight be sober. Be single. Be not sober. Be sober. Verse eight be alert. My translation says. Some of your translation would say be vigilant or watchful. That single words in the original language is a short snappy commands.
They're to the point. They're almost military in their tone. When he says that we have to be sober-minded. He's not really talking about don't drink. I'll save my thoughts about that for another sermon.
But for now, he's not talking about whether to drink or not. See sobriety in the bible isn't so much about drunkenness. Although drunkenness is one way in which we lose sobriety. No sobriety in the bible carries this idea of being cognizant of your surroundings.
You're aware of your surroundings. And as a result you act accordingly. That's what biblical sobriety is. But he doesn't just tell us to be sober-minded. He tells us to be alert be watchful. Keep your eyes peeled at all cost.
And why should a christian pursue this? Your adversary verse eight the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion. Looking for anyone he can devour. This picture of the roaring lion is the he's not roaring because he's hungry he's roaring to instill fear.
The picture is that of a ruthless predator who is seeking to instill fear in his prey. There is this picture of an intimidating and powerful enemy who is roaming about and he is ravenous in his desire the text says to devour.
Any.
Of christ's sheep. Oftentimes when we talk about this subject of the work of the devil there's a danger that comes with this which is that you can become so obsessed with this where you're no longer a Student of god's truth, but you're now a student of the devil's lies.
You've met people like that right the ones who become obsessed with everything demonic. That's all they talk about. That's all they think about. Anything goes wrong. It must have been the devil. I won't labor that point too much.
We preached a whole message back in april called standing strong. You can find on our youtube channel that went into way more detail on this. But for all the people who get overly obsessed with the devil, I think there's also those who just act like he doesn't exist.
Can I put it to you that we who live in the west are often more prone to this than most cultures. After all, we have an explanation for everything. This hit me a few years ago I grew up with I grew up born to ghanaian parents.
The worldview was a little bit different. At times maybe a little excessive, but in general we understood that there's a world beyond this world things happen that you can't explain scientifically or logically.
Yes, some people can be obsessed first. Corinthians 14 20 tells us that we are to be infants when it comes to evil. In other words, don't spend all your time knowing about evil. Just make yourself as ignorant about that as possible.
Even jesus himself revelation 224. He writes to the church of syatira and he says I'm thankful for those of you who don't hold this false teaching who aren't into what he calls the so-called secrets of satan.
And in fact jesus himself says i'm gonna explain what that is because I am not putting any other burden on you revelation 224. But just because some people turn into god's ghostbusters as it were. That doesn't mean that we can choose to be ignorant of the reality of the evil one and his effects and so peter says You're to be sober-minded and to be alert because you have an adversary the devil who is like a roaring lion looking for anyone He can devour.
In light of that verse 9 we're called to resist him. Resistance for the christian doesn't look like fighting. Again, I refer you back to that message in ephesians chapter 6 and back in april. Where I simply made the point that when we are called to resist the devil is calling about taking a defensive stance.
Not an offensive one. For the christian resistance looks like Standing your ground. And did you catch how we do this? Again, look at us and I resist him firm in the faith. The idea of the faith some of your translations will say firm in your faith.
Sorry. That is not a good translation. This is Without getting too technical definite article and then the word faith. This is talking about the objective body of truth that all believers hold to.
Here's the idea. Here's the idea.
Peter says the way in which you resist the devil Is by being resolute in your belief regarding the truth. The way in which you fight the father of lies is by knowing the truth. And so when he fires his lies at us, we know how to respond to them.
The way in which we resist the evil one is by being so grounded in the word that when he strikes. You know how to move and you know how to maneuver. That's why we'll talk about this in the sermon series that's coming up.
That's why at redeemer we call ourselves a means of grace ministry. If that phrase sounds foreign, like I said, we'll talk about in the sermon series simply put. We believe that through the word read sung heard and proclaimed that through the prayers of god's people and that through the ordinances that god gives the Ordinance of baptism and the ordinance of the lord's supper that through these things god ministers to us.
The strength that we need to serve him and stand strong against the evil one his works and their effects. I'm thinking whether I want to make this next point I wrote. And I think I will. Can I put it to you that?
That's why gathering together as god's people is critically important. I remember when The covid lockdowns happened. I mean it feels like an age ago ago, but it was only two years ago. I remember when all of that happened.
Lots of churches stayed open but lots of them closed. They were all unsure about what was happening. We weren't going to try and risk the safety of our people. I think people who closed made wise decisions and people who stayed open made wise decisions.
We're all looking at it from different vantage points. But I remember when all of that happened. And I remember people saying Oh, I can't wait till we get to reopen. I'm going to take the church. I'm going to take the church more seriously than ever before.
Now some of you who know me well know that I struggle with cynicism pray for my sanctification. And so I hear that Oh, I heard that I should say From folks who usually didn't take church all that seriously and you know, my immediate thought was no you won't.
No, you won't. And then we started reopening. Various churches took their time some opened immediately. And then all the statistics start coming out. I'm a nerd so I like to read studies and stuff like that.
One study I think it was lifeway research said that three quarters something like 73 Of people who didn't attend church. Or excuse me who attended church prior to the lockdown said That not being in church had how did they put it that not being in church?
Failed to have any noticeable negative effects on their lives. In other words for three quarters of the people that were surveyed. Not being in church didn't make a lick of difference in their lives. I forget what the number is, but I think it's something in the region of between 25 to 33 percent Of people just left the church during that period when everyone was live streaming and never came back.
And a large number of them that they read that they polled basically said well. Honestly, I can get all the benefits without having to be there on sunday. I want you to notice something in this passage.
You may not catch it in english, but let me see if I can help you with this. When peter gives us those two commands in verse eight be sober-minded and be vigilant. Both of them are in the plural. You could translate it all of you.
Be sober-minded and be vigilant. Then he says the so let's read it like that Verse eight all of you be sober-minded be alert your your Collective adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for anyone.
Singular.
To devour. How many of you like watching those nature documentaries? I find them fascinating. You see every every documentary. I just wait for it. Like, you know, it's coming. Especially when they're like in the on safari or something like that.
You always get that one animal that thinks it's smarter than everyone else. I'm gonna hang out on my own. And then there's the lion. It's like they know it's coming just like if I sit here long enough one of them's gonna be stupid enough to be by themselves.
And true to form. And the minute they're by themselves lion says.
Let's eat.
Why. There's a protection that comes from being in the group. That you don't get by being by yourself. And can I put it to you that one of the ways in which the christian resists the devil is by Actually fellowshipping with god's people.
In fact know what peter says the end of verse nine says. Resist him firm in the faith. Knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world. It's the recognition that I am not the only one going through this that ought to drive us Into further and further biblical fellowship so that as we fellowship together as god's people we are protecting.
Ourselves.
From the onslaught of the evil one. That even as sufferings and trials come we don't suffer those things in isolation. Christian can I put it to you that the devil loves a lone ranger christian. Easy pickings.
If we're going to be vigilant brothers and sisters, let me put simply like this vigilance is a family project. The less connected you are to the body the more likely. I don't mean to be blunt when I say this.
But i'm going to be blunt nonetheless. The less connected you are to the body the more likely you make yourself tomorrow's dinner for the adversary. Ah, there's much more that could be said but but we move.
We're called to humility. We're called to vigilance. The third quality we're called to in our text is hope. Hope verses 10 and 11. I don't know about you, but hope feels like it's such a precious commodity and is such short supply.
But people of god it doesn't need to be that way. I think the verses we're giving here in verses 10 and 11 are some of the most hope-filled in all the new testament. They're verses that to me are incredibly precious.
Verse 10.
The god of all grace Who called you to his eternal glory in christ will himself restore establish strengthen and support you after you have suffered a little while. To him be dominion forever and ever.
Like I said, these verses mean a lot to me personally. I went through a season where. One day i'll tell that story in full but for now I went through a season where I almost quit ministry. I was like can't do this.
Can't be bothered. And it was being reminded of these verses. That kind of pulled me out of that tailspin. I want to walk you through these verses and what it is that I learned from these verses. Particularly verse 10.
The first thing I want you to know is that suffering happens In the full knowledge. Of what of the person that peter calls catch it in verse 10 the god of all grace. In the original language this is put up front so that you know.
What the focus is here the focus here is not what god does it's who god is. Before we think about our suffering before we even think about deliverance from our suffering. We need to be regularly reminded of who our god is.
The second thing we notice is that the god who calls us to suffer Is also the god who calls us to glory. You see that there the god of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in christ. Remember how we've seen references that these two words are twinned together suffering and glory throughout this letter.
Well, peter reminds us once again that the god who has called us has not called us ultimately just to suffering and trials. But he's called us to his eternal glory. And that all that by itself Ought to help us when trials arise you see for the christian just like the children of israel in the exodus the story doesn't end with Israel in captivity.
Does it in the exodus? It ends with god's deliverance and for the christian the story of our lives does not end with our sufferings and trials. But it ends with us being in the glorious presence of our eternal god.
Third thing we know from this passage is that we can have hope. Because our sufferings are temporary. In the csb it has the next phrase right at the end of the verse 10, but it's actually in the middle.
It literally reads the god of all grace who called you in his eternal glory in christ after you have suffered a little while. Sufferings are temporary. Throughout this series. I've quoted you the verses romans 8 18.
That the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be accounted to the glory that is yet to be revealed in us. Paul's words in second corinthians that the Momentary light affliction that we endure in this life is working out for us an eternal weight of glory that is beyond compare.
The reason why we can hope have hope is precisely because the sufferings that we endure in this life are temporary. There's a fourth thing we learn from this and here I want to take some time.
It's this.
That suffering Binds us to an agreement that god makes. So. Follow me here. This might be new for some of you.
So.
In verse 4 you see those four words there that the god of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in christ. The text says will himself restore. Establish strengthen and support you after you have suffered a little while.
A few years ago I got given a book. The book was called the cup and the glory. I highly recommend it one of those books I just think you should have on your shelf because you never know when you'll need it.
The cup and the glory lessons on suffering and the glory of god. It's by a professor. He was at master seminary. He's now retired. You can be praying for him. His name is greg harris. He actually has huntington disease.
And it's made it unable for him to continue his career as a teacher. But even before he had that disease he had a bunch of other health issues lost two children and it was out of that painful season of Losing two children being struck down with a very serious case of rheumatoid arthritis that had him bedridden.
Oh, and then he lost his pastor went through a terrible season. Oh, he was a professor at bible college lost that job, too. After all of that coming out the other side. He decided to write a book About what he learned Through his trials.
And in that book, I believe it's chapter six. He wrote a book called the agree your chapter excuse me called the agreement where he basically walks through this one verse and he shows that the language here is this idea of.
There is what we go through and there is what god promises to do. We often want the results of trials without going through the trial. We often want the results of going through pain and exertion and sweat without actually going through pain and exertion and sweat.
And yet peter would have us to understand that actually. You can't have one without the other. The christian's going to suffer and as a result god agrees In his goodness and mercy to do certain things for the christian who suffers.
Four of them. Let's look at them real quick. First of all god promises. You see they're in our text to restore us verse 10. The idea of restoration here is mending that which is broken. It speaks of someone has gone through a Event where a bone has been broken and now the bone needs to be mended.
It needs to be reset. That's the language behind this word here. You see for the christian suffering might break Wound and hurt us, but here's the good news for the christian. It might do all of those things, but it can't do it irreparably.
This phrase has become really popular since. You know, we've all tried to climb out of the lockdowns and what have you and covid that phrase build back better. I kind of laugh when I hear people like use that phrase because it's like.
The only person who can truly build back better is god. Human beings can never build back better than what they had. Only god can do that and that's what he promises to do. He promises to restore us secondly.
He promises to establish us. To establish us. The idea is giving a foundation On which someone can plant their feet. Can I put it to you that our god is not just in the restoration business. He's in the foundation business, too.
That he puts our feet on a firm foundation so we can stand. He promises to restore to establish third word to strengthen literally to empower. That's why paul can say in second corinthians 12 9, you know, we love that passage the thorn in the flesh.
My grace is sufficient. Most of us quote that part. We don't usually quote the end of that verse. Therefore I will gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses so that christ's power may reside.
In me.
The power doesn't come unless we go through suffering brothers and sisters. We may not like the suffering. No normal person likes suffering. But we recognize that it's in that moment. As it were that a believer gets a main line into the very power of god.
So god promises to restore to establish to strengthen. Finally, he promises to support us. He promises to support us. He promises to keep us standing firm even when future trials come. Because the reality I think i've said it a few times during this series.
Not original to me, but I love it. We are all either going into a trial. We are all in either in a trial or we're all on our way out of one preparing for the next one. Hopefully that's not encouraging.
No, but it's honest. And what peter says here with his word support is that when the next trial comes god promises. Because of everything you learned in the last one everything he did in the last one.
He will keep you upright when the next one comes. Don't mean we might not bend a little bit here and there. But he promises to keep us standing firm. And again, wouldn't we all love all of that without suffering?
Wouldn't we love for that to take place without having to do an ounce of work? Without having to give up anything. Of course we would. But god in his sovereign mercy and goodness has ordained a world in which trials happen.
But can I put it to you that if trials didn't happen, we'd have no reason to hope would we? Hope only means something if there's something for us to look forward to. There's a fourth quality that god wants to develop in us as grounded people.
We've seen humility vigilance hope. Fourthly he calls us to perseverance. Perseverance verse 12. It's not till the end of the letter that peter tells us why he wrote this so verse 12 He says through sylvanus.
In other words sylvanus was his scribe. Peter told him what to write and he wrote it. Through sylvanus a faithful brother as I consider him. I have written to you briefly in order to encourage you and to testify.
That this is the true grace of god stand firm in it. That's why we called this series anchored. Because that's what peter wants to do through this letter. And he says he wants to encourage them and to testify that they should stand firm in the what he calls the true grace of god.
The key question is what does peter mean when he says that this is the true grace of god? Well, I think the simple answer and there's I say the simple answer because if you start digging down into this There's like 10 different options that commentators go with.
But I think the most simple answer. Is that the true grace of god that's mentioned here. Is the promise of god to preserve to keep and to strengthen his people that we just read about the ability to be grounded to be steadfast to be anchored to be Unshakable because we know the promise of god that in itself is a manifestation of grace.
And really if you think about it, this letter just follows that logic. Think about it. Remember if I can hopefully this now works. Okay, it doesn't remember. Think back to that slide with the outline of first peter.
Peter starts with our salvation. He deals with our sufferings. Think of it past present and future. Salvation in the past that's god's work. It's up, okay. You have salvation in the There we go. You've got salvation in the past.
That was god's work. You've got god's Work that he calls us to through suffering in the present and there's the return of jesus in the future. All of those are connected by the fact that all in all three of those.
We need the grace of god. The god who gave us salvation in christ the god who in the person of his son lived for us. Died for us and rose for us. The same god who gave us all of that grace. Also gives us the grace for the trials that we endure.
And that's why as a result we are called to stand firm.
In.
That grace. Because the reality is in moments of suffering. Perseverance is something that we're often low on. Keep a finger in first peter. Tell me to hebrews 10. I want to show you something very quickly.
Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews is a book that I love dearly. I think it's also very misunderstood. For most people if I say hebrews, what do we first thing we think of warning? I don't think that's the point of the letters to the hebrews.
Hebrews 13 22 tells us this is a word of encouragement. It's a word of exhortation. The author to the hebrews isn't trying to scare his audience. He's trying to encourage his audience. Look with me chapter 10 verse 32 again.
He's talking to believers who have gone through sufferings and he says this. Remember the earlier days when after you had been enlightened you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. Sometimes you were publicly publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions and the other times you were companions of those who were treated that way.
For you sympathized with the prisoners. And accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession. So look at what he says in verse 35.
So don't.
Throw.
Away.
Your confidence. Which has a great reward. Verse 36 for you need endurance. So that after you have done god's will you may receive what was promised. To these christians who are suffering who had suffered and were about to suffer a whole lot more the author to the hebrews says listen.
Don't throw away your confidence. Don't throw away your hope which by the way. The only it's interesting the only times you see confidence in the bible. The word confidence confidence is either use our confidence towards god or man's confidence in himself.
Confidence in self is always condemned. Confidence in god is always encouraged. And he says don't throw away your confidence. Don't throw away your complete trust in god. He says you need endurance though verse 36.
So that after you have gone after you have done god's will and I believe god's will in that context is you've been through suffering. After you've been through suffering. You may receive What is promised.
Oftentimes when we talk about the need for perseverance we can fall into the trap of thinking that perseverance is something that comes from you. But actually I think if we connect this verse we go back to first peter with me.
If we connect this verse with first peter, we learn something. Perseverance is itself a fruit of god's grace. It's as we expose our souls to the grace of god shown in the gospel. And we allow its glorious truths to as it were give us steel in the soul.
It's only when that happens that the christian can then say I can stand firm in the true grace of god. Humility vigilance hope perseverance. One final quality as we land this plane in first peter. It's the quality of love.
Quality of love verses 13 and 14. This is the closing greeting he's done. The temptation is to kind of say well, he's talking to a bunch of people. Doesn't really apply to me. I can skip this. So verse 13 says she who is in babylon more than likely he's talking about the church in rome.
I wish I had time to kind of dig into why I think babylon is simply just a coded name for rome. I'm running out of time. So i'm going to try and skip all that argument for now. Generally scholars agree that babylon isn't actually the ancient city.
It's a code name for rome. So peter's writing this from rome. And he says she who is in babylon chosen together with you sends you greetings as does mark my son. Yes that mark the one who wrote the second gospel in our english bibles.
Peter sends his greetings and marks. But he also sends the greeting Of the church of rome to other churches in the empire. If I had time i'd talk about why. I think it's very weird that so many of our churches don't talk to one another.
And even the new testament the churches talk to each other all the time. The church is know what's happening in the churches. If there's a need in one church all the other churches get together and help the other.
Ones.
Why are our churches in the 21st century so ruthlessly independent? And I would put it sometimes isolationist. That's a that's a study for another time for now. It seems to me the churches in the new testament that they loved one another they talked to one another they actually cared for one another.
That's one of the reasons why I've had some people criticize me for doing this. I make it a point to pray for churches here in the valley. Even ones that maybe i'm not a hundred percent on the same page with on just about everything.
Sure, I might have secondary and third level disagreements some of the churches I Will pray for they practice infant baptism. I don't believe in infant baptism. Some of you know that you were here when I preached on it.
But we proclaim the same gospel. We love the same savior. We love the same doctrines by and large. And so I refuse and by extension we refuse because I have the mic most of the time. We're refusing to look down our nose judging every church that differs with us in areas that aren't the gospel.
I put it to you that you probably heard me say this a few times in this series. I think times are getting harder. I think for the people of god things are going to get a lot harder before they get a lot easier.
And in moments like that the body with a capital b is going to need each other. But what's true of churches is also true of individual christians who make up those churches. So look at verse 14. Peter says.
That we are to greet one another with a kiss of love. Now I will put you all at ease. Peter is not telling everybody in every age pucker up and start kissing everyone. This is much more of a cultural marker in the world of the greco-roman new testament.
But while the way of showing love might be different The principle remains the same. Here's the principle. Christians ought to show genuine love care and concern for one another and that requires Proximity in other words that requires actually being in fellowship with one another.
If I can put it another way and mix metaphors for a moment. You can't kiss someone from a distance.
I'm out of time.
So much more i'd love to say about this subject of love. Allow me to just stick to one.
Which is this?
That love among god's people Is an action. Not a feeling. We can't say we love one another when we're not willing to put Feet down in pursuit of that action if you will. We have to allow the scriptures.
And actually we'll have a message in our next sermon series where I talk about this at length. We have to allow the scriptures to define what it means for us to love one another. And again that happens when we engage in fellowship.
It can't happen at a distance. Peter concludes with a very simple greeting.
Peace.
To all of you who are in christ and just like that he's done. That's the letter of first peter. As we conclude first peter faith family. Can I can I leave you with something? Brad gave me the nod so i'm gonna say it god's desire for redeemer bible fellowship.
And actually his is his desire for every church. But I don't serve every church. I serve this one. God's desire for redeemer bible fellowship is for us to be grounded to be anchored In who god is.
In what he calls us to.
And what we have to look forward to in the coming of christ. Yes, the world the flesh and the devil all desire the complete opposite. They would be happy to see us vastly. Be wishy-washy be kinder in kinder out.
And so I leave you with this question faith family. Which one will we choose as a church? Are we going to be grounded or are we going to be shaken? Which one will you choose as an individual. Will you will you choose to be Grounded to as it were take the truths of god's word and to say, you know I'm planting my feet and i'm not moving i'm here.
Or are you going to choose? You know what i'm kind of one foot in one foot out. We'll see how the weather goes. What will you choose in your families. What will you choose as individuals? Faith family.
I leave that question with you as we leave this letter behind. Am I going to be a christian who is anchored or at least seeks to be anchored. Or am I going to be a christian who chooses to be shaky to be inconsistent.
To vacillate and who won't stand when the next time of trial comes our gracious savior. We thank you so much for all that you have done in Giving us perspective and reorienting us as we have Made our way through this letter.
Thank you for all that you've taught us. Well, thank you all that you've taught me as i've worked my way through these texts hours at a time. Thank you for the glorious reminders of the fact that this world is indeed not our home.
That this world's values are not our values. But that you as the god of all grace you've called us to higher and better things. That ultimately one day we will be with you in your glory beholding your face.
For eternity.
And so lord, I ask that as we have studied this letter. That you would open our eyes.
Open up our hearts.
And cause us as your people to be encouraged to be equipped to be challenged by The truths of this letter. I ask these things in jesus name and for his sake amen.